Music

Introduction

I guess you could call me a lifelong choir junkie. No one ever had to beg me to sing in the ward choir-if a few people were getting together to sing, I wanted to be part of it! I love the feeling I get when folks are blending their voices together. Mother and Dad produced exactly a quartet of offspring-two boys and two girls-and then encouraged us to love music, and to sing and harmonize with each other.

We didn’t have much success forming a ward choir in the small farming community where I grew up. In those days we came into town for Priesthood and Sunday School in the morning, after milking the cows, and then returned into town for Sacrament Meeting in the evening, after milking the cows again. The men had little time or energy for choir practice. I have a vague memory of a few small choirs and always enjoyed them, but it was the “Singing Mothers” in their dark skirts and white blouses that caught my attention as a child. Looking back, I’m sure there was a fair amount of swooping in those choirs but I loved the sound of part-singing, and I could tell the ladies loved singing with the group-I hoped to be part of such a choir when I grew up.

I did have one unforgettable experience singing in a stake youth choir with a group of about one hundred teenagers when President David O. McKay came to dedicate a new chapel in our stake. Our dentist Robert Lee was a very capable choir director and my love for choral singing rose to a new level under his direction singing for the prophet. I daresay every one of the youth who sang may have a picture of that choir in their scrapbook. I know I do! I had forgotten that we were supposed to wear white shirts and blouses, and I am obvious in my pink blouse (though less so because the picture was in black and white).

BYU Choir

I left my Oregon home for Brigham Young University when I was seventeen and was hopeful I would find a choir to sing with there. I was realistic about my untrained voice and sought out a choir which required no audition. (That is what I loved about ward choirs-not only is there no audition, but they beg you to sing with them!) I happily signed up for the University Chorale, a group of about two hundred singers who sounded like the Tabernacle Choir to me, fresh off the farm! I loved every minute of singing with that choir under Dr. Ralph Woodward and can still remember the exhilaration I felt when this choir combined with other BYU choirs to sing in the Salt Lake City Tabernacle for General Conference. I was quite sure that this was as good as choir singing could get!

Other Ward Choirs

After marriage, Doug and I lived for a year in Pacific Grove, California, where he was stationed at the Presidio of Monterey learning Russian at the Army Language School. The servicemen and their wives added strength to our ward choir and Doug and I had the new experience of accompanying and directing the choir. A few years later Doug was attending graduate school in Bloomington, Indiana, a school widely known for its vocal music department (opera). The ward choir was made up of lots of ordinary singers like us but was bolstered by a steady stream of professionals too. Some chose not to sing with the choir, but those who did sing with us seemed to raise us all to a higher level, if only in our own minds. When you hear those beautiful voices leading out you can begin to imagine that your own voice sounds like that too.

Later we sang in solid ward choirs in Logan and in Provo, Utah. In the latter choir I was asked to sing a two-page solo with the choir in our Christmas cantata. I protested, never having seen myself as a soloist, but sometimes in ward choirs you have to do it because you are the best available. I will never forget the fear I felt in performing that solo. It seemed that my leg was shaking at a different frequency from my vibrato and there was no way I could control either.

I was more than happy to step back into the safety and anonymity of the choir!

For a short time I joined a Sweet Adelines Choir in Utah Valley and thoroughly enjoyed performing (a cappella) the tight four-part barbershop harmony with them. But a year later I was called as Relief Society president in my Provo ward and made the choice to devote my time primarily to that calling for a season.

A Brave Decision

I had been writing music and speaking in different stakes of the Church for several years and

had even begun singing some of my songs on the programs myself. People seemed to enjoy hearing me sing my own songs, and with the help of a microphone, and a nice orchestral accompaniment from our recordings, I gained a degree of confidence in my singing.

In an incredible act of bravery I decided to audition to sing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I passed the written test, then the home audition recording, and two years later I went trembling to an in-person audition before a board of choir officials. I was too scared to do my best and was dumbfounded when I received a call to sing with the choir in 1993. When I inquired how I had made it into the choir in spite of my less than stellar audition, Sister JoAnn Ottley said they needed good sight readers and blenders and that I “had a voice that wouldn’t hurt the choir.” Craig Jessop said I should take that as a compliment…

In the 5 years I sang with the choir I never got over the feeling of awe that I was a part of what I considered the best choir in the world. I loved every rehearsal and performance and tours within the United States and in many other countries. Every sacrifice was matched by unbelievable joy.

I was a First Alto and was surprised to find that many others in the choir sang about like I did.

But all of us together sounded great. Within the choir there is a little good-natured bantering about whose part is the most important, and for our First Alto party one year I wrote a song that we First Altos had a lot of fun with through the years. I don’t have a recording but it is sung to a familiar tune so you can sing along with it in your mind:

A Sincere, Self-Serving Song for First Altos of the Tabernacle Choir

(Sung to the tune of “In Our Lovely Deseret”)
In the Tabernacle Choir

Are a few who may aspire
To be praised for splendid talents they’ve acquired.
But within this mighty group
Is one earnest little troupe
Singing simply cuz it is their heart’s desire.

   Fine First Altos blend together
   Giving all that is required.
   Never seeking to be seen
   On the television screen,
   They’re the mellow, modest anchors of the choir.

Every choir member knows
We must all be on our toes.
Strict attention and devotion are desired.
Altos have some boring parts
But we sing them from our hearts–
Humble servants wanting only to inspire.

   Basses, tenors and sopranos–
   All are folks to be admired.
   With some voices singing lower,
   And some voices singing higher,
   Altos are the solid anchors of the choir.

 My fear of the audition almost kept me from five plus years of one of the most glorious musical experiences on this earth! It was a sad day when I, like everyone in the choir, had to retire at age 60. I can’t even describe how much I missed singing with them. The tears would come each Sunday morning as I watched the broadcast and remembered how it was. Something President Hinckley said helped me (paraphrasing): When a good experience ends, don’t be sad, just be glad you had the experience at all. I wrote a hymn as a gift to choir members when I retired, and Jerrold Ottley was kind enough to have the choir sing this hymn on my final broadcast:

When Saints Unite to Sing God’s Praise

(Words and music by Janice Kapp Perry, 1999)

When saints unite to sing God’s praise, His spirit will abound
As with one blended voice we raise an anthem heaven-bound.
When in our worship we combine to sing with one accord,
In one grand chorus we define our rev’rence for the Lord.

When words alone cannot convey vibrations of the heart,
Sweet strains of sacred music may our noblest thoughts impart.
The deepest joys of humankind, the raptures of the soul,
Expand as joyful voices blend in one harmonic whole.

If in our hearts we consecrate our anthems to the Lord,
The love of God shall resonate in each resounding chord.

When through our music we declare devotion to His word,
Our song, ascending like a prayer, shall reach the throne of God. 

Our Mission Choirs

When Doug and I arrived in Chile to serve a fulltime mission we were assigned to one area for our whole mission (Talagante/El Monte). We learned they did not have organized choirs, but soon a young stake president asked us if we could put together a choir for a coming conference. We had not come prepared to do this, but the idea was appealing to us. We announced the first rehearsal and fifty members showed up (they could teach us here in the States something about that! They had not been accustomed to singing with accompaniment so it took a few weeks to get everyone just singing in unison, but through the weeks and months we made great progress. Doug conducted the choir and I accompanied on an electronic keyboard. We received permission to have the missionaries join our rehearsals, which gave us a great boost.

I would have to say that the look of joy on the choir members’ faces each week, as we sang simple hymn arrangements I wrote as we went, was one of the greatest rewards of our mission. By the end of our mission we had four choirs going strong-the District Choir, Young Adult Choir, Youth Choir, and Missionary Choir (for a special Christmas program). We loved to hear the familiar hymns and other songs performed in Spanish! Joy, joy, joy!  

Following Our Mission

After our mission we returned to our home ward in Provo but were soon called as Church Service missionaries to a Spanish Ward in south Provo, just to serve wherever the bishop wanted our help. Soon we were forming a ward choir there just as we had in Chile and the ward members were just as responsive as the Chilean saints had been. I would love to have sung with them but we were needed as director and accompanist again. We were thrilled to once again hear a choir singing in Spanish.

We also formed a choir of young single adults from all the surrounding Spanish wards and prepared a missionary script and twelve of my songs which had been translated into Spanish. We had planned only one performance but our Area Authority Seventy Frasier Bullock came to the performance and greeted our large Hispanic audience in Spanish, and afterward felt that our program, Venid a mi, should be presented many other times to the Hispanic community in our area. Under the auspices of church leaders the program was performed in many other stakes during a two year period and thousands of Hispanic church members came, and brought their non-members to hear the program.

Back to the Ward Choir

We returned to our home ward where we again found ourselves singing with our ward choir.

It felt like home, because we were once again involved in singing sacred hymns and choral arrangements under our very capable director Larry Shumway. I asked a fellow choir member, Jim Cannon, who also sings with a marvelous Baroque Choir in our area, how he felt about singing in both a professional choir and our ward choir and he said, “Ardyth and I just decided that we love to sing and want to do it wherever we can.” Those were my feelings exactly. I wondered how it would be to sing in my ward choir again after having experienced the euphoria of singing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but it just felt comfortable and natural and inspiring.

I do wish our choir members would turn out in greater numbers like the Chileans did.

One Final Choral Fling

Almost fourteen years have passed since my Tabernacle Choir experience. At times I have had a longing to associate with a community choir just so I could sing more often. I’ve even considered joining a women’s choir but I know I would miss the male voices too much. I recently asked a friend to recommend a high achieving choir in the valley and she suggested the Wasatch Chorale. I looked them up online and discovered they are an audition choir, which put the fear into me. I had resolved to never go through another audition! Still I kept feeling the urge to try.

I emailed the choir director, Reed Criddle, and asked if the fact that I am 74 would automatically disqualify me from singing in his choir. He said the age would not disqualify me, but if the age caused me to not hold a pitch or had affected my tone quality that would disqualify me. He invited me to come right over and audition. I decided to do it. I reasoned that if he told me yes I would be thrilled to be part of this choir, and if he told me no, I would at least know that part of my life was behind me and would be at peace.

This time I didn’t feel fear, but just did the best I could.He invited to me sing with the Chorale.

I have been practicing with the Wasatch Chorale for a month now and it is all I can do to keep up with them. They are learning difficult music and the discipline of the choir, and the rate at which they learn (and the amount of time they stand up during rehearsals!) stretches me to my limits. At the first rehearsal, I thought what was I thinking, but now I’m starting to feel those old tingles of joy from being part of something glorious and beautiful that makes my soul feel in harmony with the world around me. However long this experience lasts, I’m in it with full heart and voice.

Conclusion

After a lifetime of being a choir junkie, I look forward to someday being part of those heavenly choirs that are described by those who have had life-after-life experiences as “glorious beyond description.” Surely there will be no auditions there-perhaps we will all be part of the heavenly choir. In Doctrine and Covenants 84:98 it says, “All shall know me . . . and shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, and shall . . . lift up their voices and . . . together sing this new song.” I love to imagine how it will be when all of creation bursts forth into an exultant song of praise and glory. For now, I’m practicing to be part of it.

Janice Kapp Perry: composer, author, lecturer